Long time no blog, sorry! I've been busy working with Paul
Hewett to build up the Zeno Marketing project list, and things are
bubbling along nicely now. If I haven't told you about Zeno yet,
remember to ask me next time we speak or visit www.zeno-marketing.co.uk

But the reason for the latest post is to congratulate Clive
Thomas and all at Watkins & Gunn Solicitors for their recent
win at the 360 Legal Awards in the 'Most Innovative Marketing Idea'
for the blue man concept.

For those of you who haven't yet seen the blue man (or blue
person for the more PC among you!), he's a very busy little boy,
representing the multiple facets of Watkins & Gunn's services
and occasionally representing ideas, articles and marketing
opportunities they may have. You can see how he's doing at www.watkinsandgunn.co.uk

The brief was to avoid the classic stock photography
representation of their services and make them stand out from their
legal industry competitors and give their brand a memorable
personality. I developed the concept of the androgynous blue man,
but much credit must go to W&G for how they've taken the ball
and run with it (all the way to the Millennium Stadium!), using it
for sponsorship of local sports teams, Wales international rugby
matches, in local newspapers, internal magazines and across their
wide range of marketing materials. The blue man is now the
memorable face of the company, even though he has no face!

So if you need to add some character to your marketing, then
give me a shout!

Most designers will eventually settle into a particular 'style'.
Some find that illustrative graphics are their thing, others
develop a very clean minimal style, and everything inbetween. Good
designers are usually able to move between styles depending on the
client, rather than enforcing their own prescrpitive style on a
job.

I like to think that I've been able to do what's right for my
clients, finding the right approach for each client. However, I
recently found myself a little bit out of my comfort zone on a
recent project - a 180 page coffee table book for lovers of a
vintage lifestyle.

The book is Pretty Nostalgic Home, and was written by Nicole
Burnett and Sarah Legg, who run a vintage and artisan market in
South Wales. The book is a must for those interested in developing
a vintage home, from the kitchen to the garden via celebrations and
tips for buying the right stuff.

As you'll see from the images, the book required a very distinct
visual identity. The writers wanted to create a 'scrapbook'
approach, with the photos and annotations appearing as if they've
been stuck in with love. To further develop the scrapbook illusion
a handwritten font and cut out bits of paper were used to good
effect.

However, as most of my clients have had at least some semblance
of a corporate edge I had become accustomed to certain 'givens' in
my design approach - I expect everything to line up nicely where
required, I still enjoy using white space to direct the eye (my
instructions for this even included not leaving any white spaces!),
I expect there to be a distinct focus on each page - but on this
project I almost had to unlearn many of the things i've learned in
my professional career and take a step back to my days of keeping a
sketchbook on art A-level and the like.

Having gone through that process I'm very pleased to add the
project to my portfolio, not only as a creative success, but as a
lesson that an old dog can learn some new tricks, making sure I
keep on my toes and not take any styling issues for granted.